Nearly forty years after her death, Romy Schneider remains the symbol of a modern woman in our minds. A free woman, asserting her sensuality and her frank character through each of her roles for the cinema. While the Cinémathèque française is currently dedicating a major retrospective to her, and Netflix is making her cult films available, the actress' legacy is under the spotlight more than ever. Take the opportunity to remember her coups d'éclat, especially in terms of style. Because fashion and cinema have always been intimately linked, it is appropriate to recall the power of clothing that contributed to creating the special atmosphere for her characters. This is how Romy Schneider's career took shape: through emblematic silhouettes. Delve into 5 key moments.
How did fashion accompany the crazy career of Romy Schneider?
When we talk about the career of Romy Schneider, it is impossible not to mention Sissi. Starring in 1955 in the cult saga when she was only 17 years old, it was this role of the young Bavarian woman who became Empress of Austria that made her a star. Romy was identified with Sissi, her beauty and, inevitably, her clothes. Considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, the empress, famous for her impeccable dressing, influenced the history of fashion as much as the trajectory of the actress. But ironically, the public ended up visualizing her only through this royal wardrobe made of ball gowns, cinched waist and puffy petticoats. It took a long time for Romy Schneider to get rid of this image of a heroine with crinoline.
Deciding to break away from the image of the beautiful ingenue that she was given and instead tp live her life freely (personal as well as professional), Romy Schneider got rid of her princely finery which had become stifling. From then on she was more modern and mature as seen in the film Boccaccio 70. Thanks to a Chanel wardrobe where the timeless tweed suits symbolized this desire to liberate women so that they could be comfortable in their daily activities, Romy Schneider shined with a crazy elegance. "It's an elegance that satisfies the mind even more than the eyes," she confided in this regard. By wearing the costumes of Gabrielle Chanel, she adopted its codes: simplicity, comfort, independence. At the beginning of the 60s, a time when fashion was just beginning to turn away from its rigorous rules, Coco Chanel was there for the fashion. Long-time friend of the director Luchino Visconti, one could believe in a sign of fate as to his meeting with Romy Schneider. In any case, it was essential in the career of the actress.
Well rid of the frills of Sissi, the silhouette of the Austrian actress evolved more and more before the eyes of his audience. And her role in The Swimming Pool marked a real turning point in this regard. The filming took place in the summer of '68, in the famous villa of Ramatuelle. The actress was dressed in the latest creations of Courrèges, in psychedelic evening wear or refined looks, but always embodying a bourgeois character with skin tanned by the Mediterranean sun and a magnetic look.
But if we had to keep only one piece of her wardrobe in this film, it would undoubtedly be the swimsuits. Minimalist, even ordinary, they have nevertheless quickly become legendary as the black triangle top or the white one-piece. Because Courrèges has strong symbolism, so much it draws in the social dynamics and in particular the modern sexual revolution, Romy Schneider carried this this free, simple and avant-garde woman to perfection. Freed from all embellishment, daring cutouts, bare backs and bikinis.
In this adaptation of Paul Guimard's book by Claude Sautet, Romy Schneider continues her fashion evolution through the modernity of Courrèges. In a yellow dress in the restaurant and then in a white version during the final scene in the hospital, we found the signature codes of the French house through dresses with a revolutionarily short length for the time, and their very identifiable trapeze cuts allowing total freedom of movement. While the garment sometimes seems a simple detail in the staging of a film, this look participated fully in the portrait of Romy Schneider, a pioneer in the emancipation of women in cinema.
It was in the 70s that her career took a turn, especially through the films of Claude Sautet. In 1971, the same year she signed the tribune for the right to abortion, Romy Schneider was bewitching in her scenes from Max and the Junkmen. With daring cleavage and vinyl trench coat, the actress left the small bourgeois world of her previous films for good. And we owe Yves Saint Laurent credit for this stylistic upheaval. While he was the little prince of Parisian fashion, he designed a new wardrobe for Lily, a prostitute played by Romy Schneider. A strong and sexy wardrobe, which already reflected the changes to come in the decade (appearance of new volumes, new materials, but also a new discourse of fashion).
Translation by Anissa Agrama
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